Chipotle’s Boorito is Back

Customers are invited to add something “unnecessary” to their costumes to score a $3 burrito and to help raise $1 million for the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) announced today the return of its longstanding and popular Halloween fundraiser, Boorito. On Saturday, October 31 between 5pm and closing, Chipotle will offer $3 burritos, bowls, salads, and tacos to customers dressed in a costume with an, “unnecessary” addition. Proceeds from the fundraiser, up to $1 million, will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation.

Boorito has become one of the company’s most iconic promotions and this year, to showcase the simplicity of their ingredients, Chipotle is asking Boorito participants to add an unnecessary addition to their costumes in order to redeem the $3 Boorito offer. This twist on the costume guidelines supports the company’s larger vison of serving only the highest quality ingredients versus the complex array of unnecessary additives and preservatives that are typically found in fast food.

Unlike a typical fast food restaurant menu that includes hundreds, if not thousands of additives, including chemicals, processing aids, artificial colors and artificial flavors, Chipotle serves a simple menu of food made with only 68 ingredients that are raised or grown with respect for farmers, the environment, animals and consumers. These high quality ingredients are then prepared using classic cooking techniques.

“We’ve always focused on sourcing the highest quality ingredients, and we are challenging our customers to learn about the unnecessary ingredients used in typical fast food by adding something ‘unnecessary’ to their costume,” said Mark Crumpacker, chief creative and development officer. “In exchange for adding an unnecessary item to their costume, we’ll donate $1 from their purchase to the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation to help in its efforts to create a better food future.”

In support of this year’s Boorito fundraiser, Chipotle has produced a companion short film in conjunction with New York based studio, Piro, entitled “Endless Line.” The humorous film features a customer entering a fictitious fast food restaurant where she discovers what Chipotle would be like if it served traditional fast food rather than cooking by hand. It follows her as she orders from an endless line of workers, each adding a different artificial additive to her meal. Rather than accept her artificially flavored, colored, and processed meal, she questions where the “real” ingredient are. The short video concludes with the line: “Unnecessary additives are creepy.”

Proceeds from Boorito up to $1 million will benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. To date, Chipotle customers have raised more than $4 million through the Boorito fundraising program to support the foundation’s work. The Chipotle Cultivate Foundation provides resources and promotes good stewardship for farmers; promotes better livestock husbandry; encourages regenerative agriculture practices; and fosters food literacy, cooking education, and nutritious eating.

ABOUT CHIPOTLESteve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast-food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Through our vision of Food With Integrity, Chipotle is seeking better food from using ingredients that are not only fresh, but that — where possible — are sustainably grown and raised responsibly with respect for the animals, the land and the farmers who produce the food. In order to achieve this vision, we focus on building a special people culture that is centered on creating teams of top performers empowered to achieve high standards. This people culture not only leads to a better dining experience for our customers, it also allows us to develop future leaders from within. Chipotle opened with a single restaurant in 1993 and operates more than 1,850 restaurants, including 17 Chipotle restaurants outside the U.S. and 11 ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen restaurants, and is an investor in an entity that owns and operates three Pizzeria Locale restaurants. For more information, visit Chipotle.com.

ABOUT THE CHIPOTLE CULTIVATE FOUNDATIONChipotle Mexican Grill established the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation in 2011 to extend its commitment to creating a more sustainable future. The foundation is committed to providing resources and promoting good stewardship for farmers; promoting better livestock husbandry; encouraging regenerative agriculture practices; and fostering better food literacy, cooking education, and nutritious eating. Since its inception, the foundation has contributed more than $3 million to likeminded organizations committed to cultivating a better world through food. Visit CultivateFoundation.org for more information.